Master’s Showing Its Age in Soccer
Playing on the Master’s College women’s soccer team, Meg Longbotham and Stephanie Schuster line up only a few yards apart on the field. But they’re a decade apart in age.
Longbotham, a 16-year-old sophomore, became the youngest athlete in Master’s College history last season at 15. Schuster, 26, is one of only two seniors on a team that is 4-14-1 but is headed to the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics independent playoffs for the first time in school history.
The age difference is no factor on the field, they said.
“I don’t do anything different [from older players] and no one knows my age unless I tell them,” said Longbotham, who skipped two grades in elementary school and took three correspondence courses so she could finish high school in three years.
“I wouldn’t feel at home at high school,” Longbotham said. “The kids are immature.”
Where Longbotham was uncomfortable in high school, it also took Schuster time to get used to college again when she arrived at Master’s last year.
“When I first got here, I was wondering, ‘Why am I not connecting with these people?’ ” said Schuster who, like Longbotham, grew up and went to high school in Colorado. “It wasn’t until the second semester I realized it was age.”
After graduating from high school in 1990, Schuster went to Colorado State until 1993, when she left and went on to other things.
In late 1995, she worked at a camp with elementary school children and high school students, realizing there that she needed to go back to school.
Now, Schuster is not only in school, but is a valued member of the soccer team.
“She’s very responsible and very outgoing and the players look up to her,” Coach Dudley Hitchman said. “She is the leader of the team.”
That doesn’t mean that being 26 and playing against women five to eight years younger doesn’t have its drawbacks.
“My body gets beat up more,” said Schuster, who missed part of practice last week to rest a sprained ankle.
And though Schuster, who has three goals, is the team leader, Longbotham has the brighter soccer future, according to Hitchman.
“She is good and is still in the process of growing up,” he said. “By her junior year, I think she’ll be an All-American.”
This season, she has two goals in what she considers a down year.
“Last year I played better,” Longbotham said. “Right now, I’m getting better, and closer to how I played last year.”
The Mustangs qualified for the NAIA independent tournament next Tuesday because of their record against other NAIA independents and strength of schedule.
They will play United States International University for the South Region championship.
Cal Poly Pomona sophomore Ruth Van’t Land, who became the school’s all-time leading goal scorer after only 31 games, last week broke the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. record for goals in a soccer season.
Van’t Land has 26, two more than the mark set last season by Heather Rolland of Cal State Dominguez Hills. Van’t Land is 14 goals ahead of the second-place scorer in the CCAA this season.
She has scored 38 goals in her career, six fewer than Rolland’s conference record of 44.
The Azusa Pacific women’s soccer team set school and Golden State Athletic Conference records with its 15th consecutive victory Oct. 19. The Cougars, who went to 16-0 with a 15-0 rout of Hope International on Saturday, are ranked second in the NAIA and are one victory away from clinching the first GSAC championship in school history. Melissa Myers was named GSAC player of the week with five goals and two assists in two matches. . . . The Cal State Bakersfield women’s volleyball team remained in first place in the CCAA with victories over Dominguez Hills and second-place Cal State Los Angeles. Junior outside hitter Jennifer Carr was CCAA player of the week with 36 kills and a .471 hitting percentage.
The Azusa Pacific football team broke the school record for total yards with 634 in a 44-22 victory over La Verne Oct. 17. Geoff Buffum’s 416 yards passing also broke a school record as did Dexter Davis’ 238 yards in receptions. And Davis’ four touchdowns tied his own record. . . . Araceli Martinez of Dominguez Hills finished second Saturday in the CCAA cross-country meet with a time of 18:05.9 over 5,000 meters. . . . CCAA women’s soccer South Division leader Dominguez Hills lost to North leader Sonoma State, 1-0, on a penalty kick in double overtime last week. . . . Biola’s Eddie McRae was GSAC player of the week with two goals and an assist in two soccer games last week.